Megliola: Fearless C's a mystery in East while Heat rule

It was an impossibly rare Sunday afternoon for Celtics fans, and the players too, for that matter. How so? They were all pulling for a Miami Heat win over the Toronto Raptors. Miami obliged. It was the Heat’s 22nd straight win. Next up, the Celtics at TD Garden on Monday night. Chance to be the streak-breaker, for what it’s worth.

By Lenny Megliola/Special to the News

Milford Daily News

By Lenny Megliola/Special to the News

Posted Mar. 19, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Mar 19, 2013 at 7:04 PM

By Lenny Megliola/Special to the News

Posted Mar. 19, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Mar 19, 2013 at 7:04 PM

BOSTON

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It was an impossibly rare Sunday afternoon for Celtics fans, and the players too, for that matter.

How so?

They were all pulling for a Miami Heat win over the Toronto Raptors.

Miami obliged. It was the Heat’s 22nd straight win. Next up, the Celtics at TD Garden on Monday night. Chance to be the streak-breaker, for what it’s worth.

The Heat knew what the Celtics were thinking.

"If there’s any group that would be motivated in a circumstance like this, it’s that team in green," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said before Monday night’s game. "That’s what happens when you meet a team consecutively in the playoffs. There’s a history there."

"I think we’ll be ready for it," Dwyane Wade said.

Whether the Celtics proved up to the task Monday or not, it’s likely that only a few of their loyalists feel Boston has much of a chance against the Heat if and when the teams face off in the playoffs again.

Miami is playing out of its mind, not that much of a surprise either, since LeBron James is cobbling an otherworldly season.

Miami is odds on to win it all again, and likely beat Oklahoma City in the Finals, like last season.

Where do the Celtics fit in?

Playoffs? Playoffs?

Heck, there was a point in the season when just qualifying for the postseason seemed like an iffy proposition. Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett were a year older, and it showed some nights early in the season. Danny Ainge had stocked the team with eight or nine new faces, and that shopping spree was going to require an old-meets-new period of adjustment.

Then Rajon Rondo went down, and Doc Rivers had to re-boot again on the fly.

At least we know now that the Celtics will play more than 82 games. The question is, just a handful, like one-and-done, or is it possible they could get to the Eastern Conference finals and say hello to the Heat again?

No introductions will be necessary.

The only thing these teams don’t know about each other is how they take their coffee, black or sugar and cream.

Any early exit by the Celtics will come with the appendage that without Rondo how far could this team have expected to go anyway?

Let’s say they win a couple of rounds and — sakes alive! — get to the conference finals again against Miami. The Heat win, and then what? Does the ‘If we only had Rondo it might have been a different outcome’ theory apply?

More likely they’d be looked at as gallant losers, just for having gotten that far in a most trying season.

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That’s all down the road of course. Who the Celtics meet in the first round is worthy of discussion. Some theorists maintain that meeting the Heat in the first round would give the Celtics a better chance of knocking out the NBA defending champs, the thinking being that Boston might be too gassed to put up a good fight if it played into June.

That’s crazy. If the Celtics are good enough to win a couple of rounds, they take it and run with it, and give it their best shot against the Heat, just like last year, Rondo or no Rondo.

Sure, it would hurt to lose to Miami again, but if they get to the conference finals the Celtics will be playing with house money.

Anyway, in the here and now it looks like the Milwaukee Bucks will be the sacrificial lambs in the first round against the Heat. And the Celtics should be good enough to take out New York or Brooklyn, although Indiana, even without Danny Granger, or Chicago, even without Derrick Rose, would be a stern test for Boston.

This will all sort out. Just remember, we wondered if the Celtics were even good enough to make the playoffs after the fateful Jan. 27 afternoon Rondo went down.